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Stratford’s restaurant revival: young chefs shake up an old food scene

If you think Stratford is just about fine dining, think again. The food scene is taking off and heading in approachable new directions.

In the construction zone of what's going to be the Red Rabbit restaurant, chef Sean Collins and general manager Jessie Larsen (two of 11 owners) show off their red rabbits. (Hannah Yoon for the Toronto Star)

Parking is pretty cheap in Stratford (40 cents an hour at meters), but Ruth Klahsen on Monforte on Wellington still offers change for customers. (Hannah Yoon for the Toronto Star)

Monforte owner/head cheesemaker Ruth Klahsen is passionate about building community in Stratford. She's shown at her restaurant Monforte on Wellington. (Hannah Yoon for the Toronto Star)

Antony John is an artist/farmer who grows salad greens and vegetables just west of Stratford. You'll almost certainly eat his produce if you dine out in Stratford. (Hannah Yoon)

STRATFORD—Strike the image of white tablecloths and replace it with red rabbits.

White tablecloths represent the old guard of fine dining restaurants. Red rabbits represent the new guard of down-to-earth, community-minded restaurants in a theatre/agricultural town of 33,000.

To be literal, the Red Rabbit is a “community shared restaurant” opening in June. The meaning behind its name, though, tells an important story about the ethos that’s shaking things up.

Jessie Larsen used to work at a fine dining spot here called the Church Restaurant. Front of house staff (the servers) and back of house staff (the cooks) don’t usually mix well, but here they played an ongoing game by hiding a red rabbit figurine in different work stations.

As Larsen remembers, the red rabbit “became, in a strange way, a whimsical common goal that bridged the front and back of house.”

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When she, her chef husband Tim Larsen, and their chef friend Sean Collins decided to start a restaurant but reject “the traditional mold,” Red Rabbit was the obvious name.

The original red rabbit figurine is AWOL, but friends from Church Hill Farm found several cast-iron rabbits and spray-painted them red as a gift. They’ve quickly become mascots.

The community-shared restaurant will serve casual Canadian that’s “soul satisfying in the way of comfort food.” It’s being built in a former bridal shop on Wellington St.

The concept is a spin on community shared agriculture plans. Instead of taking out a bank loan, the Red Rabbit crew cobbled together $100,000 and has asked the community to buy “restaurant futures” by prepaying for future meals. For example, a $500 “bunny share” gets $600 in “rabbit dollars” spread over three years.

Red Rabbit has also rejected the traditional restaurant model where owners collect profits while workers only draw salaries. They’ve persuaded eight other core staff to invest as owners and are working out a profit-sharing system.

It’s just one of many changes to Stratford’s food scene, where the new guard has launched the Stratford Chefs League — “a group of chefs uniting farms, restaurants and each other through food.”

As Stratford-born Jessie observes: “It’s like somebody shook the restaurant board.” Tim likens it to a “changing of the guard.”

“I’ve never seen a season like this season,” says Monforte owner Ruth Klahsen, who started at the Stratford Chefs School the year it launched in 1983 and worked in restaurants before becoming a cheesemaker.

They talk in seasons here, a nod to the Stratford Festival that brings in Canadian and American tourists from May to October.

Some restaurants follow suit — Rundles’ 39th season runs May 22 to Sept. 19. The Prune Restaurant reopens May 15 for the season. But that’s changing, too.

“In the summer, you do the thing,” explains the Red Rabbit team. They’re more excited about November to April, when they can flex their creativity for locals.

Klahsen wants to be “sort of under the radar” — not unlike a legendary but defunct Stratford spot called Chez Jimbo where you apparently had to show local ID to get in.

Still, she’s keen on building community.

Screwed to the wall inside the front door of Monforte on Wellington, there’s an artsy, outstretched hand figurine cupping quarters.

“Change for the parking meter,” a sign reads. “Help yourself.”

Klahsen was the first to raise money here through a community-shared agriculture program in 2009 when she got more than $400,000 for a new home for her dairy. Now she wants help with a “home farm” built around an alternative farming model that helps young farmers have access to land.

“I just think if we could all figure out how to live well, eat well and treat each other well, then I think the world would just be better.”

It’s a philosophy you hear often in Stratford’s food circles.

“No volunteers and no offshore workers,” are two of artist/farmer Antony John’s rules at Soiled Reputation, where he grows salad greens and other produce with 15 summer and five winter staff.

The “painter who farms” (and just had his first exhibition at Agora Gallery) has greenhouses, 24 beehives and 130 species of birds just outside of Stratford.

He sells his food mainly to restaurants, but insists he’s managing an ecosystem, not running a farm: “I consider my main crop to be biodiversity and I subsidize that by selling my vegetables.”

At Revel Caffè on Market Place, owner/barista Anne Campion took over a downtown shop with the tagline “independent coffee for a revolution.” Almost five years later, she’s embracing a new mission statement: “For the good of our community, locally and globally.”

Campion is offering her second “community-shared beans and baking subscription.” The first one financed a larger space. This one is to renovate the basement so her pastry team, led by Jordan Lassaline, can have a proper prep kitchen. (Don’t miss the bacon and egg croissants on Fridays and Saturdays.)

“Doing good by others” is essential to Campion, so she direct-sources coffee beans from a Nicaraguan farmer and gets them roasted by his daughter. She buys regional ingredients about 90 per cent of the time, and sends hungry customers to nearby restaurants like Canadian Grub, Monforte on Wellington and Sirkel Foods. They direct coffee lovers to her.

“We’re for each other and I believe that’s a unique thing in a community that can be so heavily dependent on tourist season,” muses Campion. “We all have to be here year round.”

A few doors away at Agora Gallery, owner Cindy Hubert is hosting John’s first art show and using her favourite local restaurant Pazzo Taverna + Pizzeria to cater the launch. Hubert’s a big fan of Revel and Campion’s ethos.

“Revel is a place where people come. The artists go there. The actors go there. It’s a bit of a hub.”

Revel may be a hub, but Market Place faces a parking lot and bus depot. There is hope that this space can be reclaimed for a real market square. The Slow Food Perth County outdoor market is already held here on Sunday mornings from May to October.

It’s a favourite of Paul Finkelstein, the chef-teacher who helps students run the Screaming Avocado café at Stratford Northwestern Secondary School. Mr. Kim, he says, is the “segue to fish” for local teens.

Finkelstein hopes more places will find ways to stay open in winter, and he’s looking forward to all the new food spots set to open. “Change is good for everyone. Food as a tool for change is my mantra.”

Rob Wigan and Candice Sanderson-Wigan are keen to be part of Stratford’s change. They’ve owned Molly Bloom’s Irish Pub for seven years and are renovating the former Church restaurant into Revival House, breathing “new life” into what started as a gospel church and became a renowned fine dining spot.

“The fine dining scene is pretty intimidating for a lot of people,” says Candice. “It’s a dwindling scene these days.”

Revival House will be approachable, with 140 seats, event dining and concerts. Upstairs, Chapel gastropub will have 65 seats plus a VIP hideaway called Confession.

Revival House has its own parking lot and will go after the tour bus market, but it also plans to stay open year-round to serve locals.

The Wigans are thrilled to be part of what they say is a “critical mass” of downtown restaurants.

“I think we all support each other,” says Rob.

On Ontario St., Susan Dunfield just sold her popular restaurant Down the Street after 22 years to employee Cassandre Frost and business partner Jackie Hayton.

“I’m 56,” admits Dunfield. “There’s a time when you know it’s time to pass the torch.”

Frost will reopen in May with a few tweaks. Longtime chef Lee Avigdor will be joined by a bar chef. The plan is to stay open year round, after literally rolling out the red carpet for an “opening week” that matches the launch of theatre season.

At Rundles on Cobourg St., longtime chef de cuisine Neil Baxter is also bracing for restaurant season. He runs the modern haute cuisine spot from May to October, teaches at the Stratford Chefs School from October to March, and offers private cooking classes at Rundles from March to May.

Rundles isn’t changing ownership or chefs, but it is eliminating its Sophisto-Bistro and sticking with pre-theatre and late dinner seatings.

“The current trend is no reservations and à la carte,” acknowledges Baxter. “As much as we’d like that ourselves, that’s not us. I think there’s a perception of Rundles that’s hard to get away from. They say if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”

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